Stranger Things
by Lavender Pearl
Summary: REPUBLISHED UNDER A NEW ACCOUNT AND NAME: My name is Rae Fisher. I uncovered information that changed everything. Information involving me, Alex Drake, and a man named Gene Hunt.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Stranger Things  
>Summary: Difficult to summarise. I wanted something punchy but couldn't come up with anything. Keywords: Rae Fisher, 1981, Alex Drake, Gene Hunt, Evan White, Conspiracy. If anyone fancies doing me a summary in their review I'd be very grateful. Please read!<br>Rating: Not sure yet. There's definitely some swearing.

**For those of you who are currently thinking this is a suspicious copy of a story by author Emily Lawrence, you're right – I'm the same person. I've been locked out of my other account (soooooo annoying) and the only way I could think of updating my story was by republishing in my second account.**

**Chapter One**

_**2010**_

_Fuck_. Late.

Rae Fisher glanced at the clock on her dashboard and tapped out an anxious rhythm on the steering wheel. Glaring out of the window at the pouring rain, she grabbed her hands free headset and jammed it in her ear. With one eye on the road she jabbed at her handset and waited for the dialling tone.

"Hello?"

"Evan it's me."

"Rae?"

"Evan listen, I'm stuck in traffic. Fucking rush hour. Can you push my ETA back, like forty-five minutes?"

"You're not even late yet..."

"I need to pop into the hospital before I get to you."

Evan didn't need to ask why "How come you left work so late?"

"Can't talk about it..." Rae eased her foot off the brake and inched forward in the queue of traffic slightly "Tell Molly I'll be there though. I will."

She heard Evan sigh. He lowered his voice "This isn't a good day to be late, Rae..."

"You think I don't know that Evan? You think I'm not half a second away from abandoning my car on London Bridge and _jogging_ to your house? I'm doing the best I can OK?"

"OK, OK... Just get here in one piece alright?"

"Well I could go back and collect the arm I discarded in order to shed unnecessary weight, but I fear that would make me even later."

"You know what I mean." Evan said testily, ringing off abruptly. Rae rolled her eyes and scoffed. How dare he feel the need to remind her of what an important day this was? Her original plan had been to skip the hospital altogether and drive straight to his house. But as she'd just found out, today was the last chance she would have for a while.

X x X x X

Rae hurried up the ward, leaving a small trail of water behind her. Between parking her car and arriving in Intensive Care, she had gotten the soaking of her life. This did not add to her mood. The ward sister gave her a nod of recognition.

"No change?" She asked breathlessly yet always hopeful, and was met with a sympathetic shake of her head. Rae didn't know why, but her heart always sank a little deeper each time, as though the grief were made fresh in her soul.

Clutching the flowers that had taken priority over keeping her own hair dry, Rae made her way gingerly over to a corner of the ward she knew well. Perching on the edge of a plastic chair, she tried to ignore the small puddle that was forming around her.

"Hello Alex."

Around the bed, the machines conducted their sad symphony of whirs and bleeps, but there was silence from the human occupant as always. Rae stared for a moment at the form lying there, a pale and fragile shadow of the powerhouse Rae had once known.

But it was still unmistakably Alex. The long eyelashes, the elegant hands, the alabaster skin. The bullet wound in her forehead was just a grey-purple knot of scar tissue over her left eyebrow. When she awoke, the doctors had said, she would be able to consider an elective procedure to lessen the scarring.

_If_ she awoke.

Rae bit back a small sob. It never got any easier, coming here. In the beginning, Molly had refused to leave her mother's side and so Rae and Evan had both had to split the time between them. This went on for the entirety of the school holidays, with neither Evan nor Rae feeling it would be appropriate to tell Molly that it couldn't go on, somehow just knowing that when the term began again Molly would go back to school without a second thought. "Mum wouldn't want me to miss anything." She had said it in such a way that Rae had had to lock herself in the bathroom and weep bitterly.

And so two years on, a pattern had emerged. Molly visited every other day after school and on Sunday evenings with Evan. Rae made it her first port of call whenever she was in London. It was rare that she should be alone with Alex though. Ordinarily, she would watch on silently while Molly read to her mother or chattered on about school.

Rae took a shaky breath and reached out to take Alex's hand "Well old girl, looks like it's just you and me."

Outside the rain lashed down, crashing into the window panes. Rae glanced out of the window and down at the street at the commuters making their way home, sheltering underneath their black umbrellas. To Rae, they looked like the finale of some macabre circus act. Turning her attention back to the bed, she flashed a small smile at Alex "Can you believe this weather? You'd never think it was July. Bet you're glad you're missing this, kiddo."

The words were out of her mouth before she'd even had time to register what she'd said. Rae's hand flew to her lips and she gasped through her fingers. Surreptitiously glancing around to check no one had heard that, she leaned closer to her prone friend "I didn't mean that. Of _course_ you want to be here. I'm sorry." She sighed and gripped Alex's hand a little tighter "OK, I'll cut the crap and stop talking to you like you're not my best friend. After I leave the hospital, I'm going to Evan's to see Molly. It's her birthday, but you already knew that. And after that, I have to go away for a bit. On one of my... _trips_. You know the drill. But if I... _when _I come back, I want to see you up and bossing everyone about. That's an order, Drake."

Rae never knew if she expected Alex to respond, but leaving gaps in the conversation where her friend might have interjected had become the norm to her. The introspective part of her character suspected that it was due to a subconscious need to still act as though Alex were an active participant in daily activities. Acknowledging that she was now little more than a vegetable was something Rae simply couldn't do.

"I saw Harry the other day. You were right - he did turn out to be a wanker. Good job I listened to you eh? Remember when we met him at Oxford? I thought I'd never love again. When he dumped me you got me drunk on tequila and we poured paint on his car. I don't imagine they'd have let us into the force if we'd ever been caught. Irrational behaviour and all that." Instinctively, she began to laugh but caught herself suddenly. Giving a watery smile, she took a deep breath "...I know I say this every time, but I need you back here. Probably not as much as Molly, but I need you back because there's so much going on right now that I need to tell you. I need you back because I'm scared that I'm losing myself in my job and a whole bunch of other things that only best friends are equipped to deal with." Rae heaved a sigh and propped her head up with her free hand "I know it's not your fault or anything, You didn't want this to happen. I just wish you'd wake up, Alex..."

X x X x X

Rae stayed a little longer at her friend's bedside before deciding to brave the wet weather. She squeezed Alex's hand and gave a last cursory glance to her friend's face, checking for any signs of life. Finding nothing Rae smiled sadly and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead "I'll be back soon to see you, I swear it."

She sat in the car in silence for ten full minutes, barely noticing that she was soaking wet and shivering. Visiting Alex always left her this way. It had been so long since the incident that she was completely cried out and so now every time she left the ward it was in a state of sad numbness. It was something that she had discussed with Molly the last time they had visited. Evan had had somewhere to be that day, so it had been just the two of them. Molly had been silent until they were in the car, but Rae sensed that there was something her goddaughter desperately wanted to say.

Molly looked more and more like her mother every day. In her early teens now, she was becoming an exceptionally pretty young woman. Her eyes had a thoughtfulness and wisdom that many girls her age would never have. Her skin was bright and dewy and her body taking on the new curves that accompanied womanhood. She drew looks from boys her own age and older, which Rae suspected was highly discomfiting to Evan. That day in the car, she sat in the passenger seat deep in thought staring out of the window, hands folded demurely in her lap.

Taking one hand off the wheel, Rae reached across and gave Molly's knee a squeeze "What is it, pet?"

Molly gave her godmother a half smile and opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it again as though she had thought better of it. Rae had allowed her to gather her thoughts. She knew Molly would eventually say what was on her mind but she spoke carefully, never one to speak before she had fully thought about something.

"I keep thinking that... well, we don't really cry anymore do we?"

Rae frowned "How do you mean?"

"I mean, when mum was first in hospital we cried all the time didn't we? But we just... don't anymore."

"Well..." Rae had chosen her words slowly "I think it's to be expected in a way. I suppose you could argue that when we first found out your mum was in hospital our bodies went into a heightened state of function -"

"Like fight or flight?"

"Exactly," _Thank you, Alex_ "so we cried a lot and couldn't sleep very much because we were too tense, and basically ran on adrenalin. But the human body just can't sustain that kind of pace, so in the end it adjusts and settles down."

"I don't understand."

"OK," Rae swung the car around a corner "think about it like this. When you smell something really strong, you only smell it for a little while don't you?"

"Yes..."

"Well that's because after a while, your olfactory nerves go numb and you don't notice the smell anymore. It's a little bit like that."

"So our brains went numb?"

"In a manner of speaking. Where are you going with this?" Rae had learnt a long time ago to ask Molly outright what she was thinking. The kid was too bright to fall for any adult sugar-coating.

"I'm worried because we don't cry as much anymore. I'm worried that means that we're less sad. That we're getting used to mum being gone."

"Darling girl," Rae's heart went out to her goddaughter "Is that what this is about? You're feeling guilty because you don't cry so much anymore?"

Molly had stayed completely silent. Interpreting this as a yes, Rae had gently reach over and taken her hand "You and me and Evan are all still very sad that your mum hasn't woken up yet. I suspect that in some way, we'll all be sad until she does. But that sadness and that worry doesn't always manifest itself in tears. The fact is, we have to carry on until she does wake up because stopping just isn't an option. For a start, your mother would go mad if she thought Evan and I let you just stop living. And trust me, you don't want to see her mad."

"And what if... what if she doesn't wake up? What if she dies, Rae?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Molly, I can't pretend to you that this isn't going to go one of two ways. If your mum wakes up then I will personally high-five everyone in London. If she doesn't... then you have my word that Evan and I will always be there. Always. Never in a million years could we replace her, and I know that it will never be the same, but you have to understand..." Rae was rambling and she knew it. She took a deep breath "Molly, the night you were born I was there. I sat in that hospital room and watched your mum hold you. She had been in labour for nearly forty-eight hours. She hadn't slept and the drugs they'd given her had made her unbelievably ill. But even when you were out, she refused to sleep. She sat and just held you for hours and as I watched her, I suddenly realised that there was nothing deeper, stronger or more natural than her love for you. And I knew that it wasn't something that could ever be extinguished or lost. Molly, even if she doesn't come back to us, that love is with you. I would bet every penny I have on it."

It was a conversation they had both needed, and looking back on it as she drove to Evan's house through the rain, Rae knew they had both come out of it feeling a little stronger.

The rain had stopped by the time she drew up to Evan's grand townhouse. The lights were on inside and Rae could see that balloons and party streamers had been painstakingly hung up. Evan White would have spared no expense in celebrating his goddaughter's birthday. For that, Rae had to respect him.

It wasn't that she didn't _like_ Evan, Rae rationalised, lifting the big brass knocker and letting it fall once, twice, three times. It was just that he always struck her as being vaguely displeased at the sight of her. Lawyers in general made her feel uncomfortable. Must be something to do with their innate ability to create conflict. But he doted on Molly to the point of moving her into his house with him after Alex had been shot, and never denied her anything, from affection and encouragement, to new books or a laptop. Before Alex had been put in the hospital, Rae's contact with Evan had been superficial to say the least and she had preferred it that way. When she had been introduced to him at Molly's christening, his polite smile and firm handshake had failed to betray the suspicious and vaguely perplexed look in his eyes. He looked almost as though he had met her before but couldn't quite remember where. Rae had thought it odd but hadn't dwelt on it too long. Any other time they had been in each other's company over the years their interaction had always been a little tense but thankfully limited to vague pleasantries at birthday parties and barbeques.

But when their lives had inexplicably collided with one another after the incident, Rae knew that things would be complicated. Luckily, concentrating on Molly's needs at the time had provided a welcome distraction, but Rae couldn't help feeling that Evan would have preferred if she had lost interest in her goddaughter's wellbeing after a few weeks and just left them to get on with it. But even if she'd wanted to fade into the background (which she _didn't_) Rae never could have forgiven herself if she had just abandoned Molly.

To begin with, Evan had been cagey at best. Whenever Molly had asked if Rae could go back and stay with them, he had made some feeble excuse that Rae had passed off as indicative of his general distaste for her. But when she had finally been graced with an invitation to the White residence, she was amazed to step inside and feel as though she were in the national gallery. It was spotless, which wouldn't have been in the slightest bit suspicious had Molly and Alex not made comments over the years about how untidy Evan was. All of his books were lined up alphabetically on the shelves and there wasn't as much as a single legal pad or scrap of paper anywhere. It was the same on each of the occasions Rae went there. Even Molly had noticed it eventually, suggesting to Rae that Evan wanted impress her.

"Not _likely_..." Rae muttered to herself sardonically as the door opened to reveal Molly in a pair of skinny jeans and a cream smock top. She had French plaited the front of her hair and swept the rest into a low bun. A few snaky tendrils had freed themselves to frame her face. Rae's breath caught in her throat. She was the spitting image of Alex.

"What's not likely, Rae?"

"Nothing, darling. You look beautiful." Rae stepped forward to gather Molly into a tight embrace "Happy birthday, pet."

"Thanks. Rae, you're soaked. Let me get you a towel... Evan, Rae's here!" Molly started to disappear up the stairs to search out a towel.

"No I'm fine, honestly Molly. The car seat took the worst of the water..." Evan had appeared at the sitting room door. He gave her a stiff smile "Hello Rae. You made good time." He leant forward to give her an awkward peck on the cheek. Rae forced herself to return the smile "Hi. Sorry about the frantic call earlier."

"It's fine. I'm glad you made it." He certainly didn't look glad "Glass of wine?"

"God yes."

"Here you are Rae." Molly had reappeared and Rae sighed inwardly with relief. Evan smiled affectionately at his goddaughter before ducking back out of sight without so much as a backward glance at Rae "I'll get you that wine." He said over his shoulder.

"Ta. Thanks for the towel, kiddo. Here, this is for you." Rae drew out a small parcel from her handbag and shook it enticingly. Molly grinned "Thanks Rae!" She planted a kiss on Rae's cheek and took her hand "Come and sit down. I was just about to open Evan's gift."

Rae allowed herself to be led into the sitting room which was, as usual, spotless. Molly noticed her godmother staring and nudged her "He started tidying the minute he found out you were coming."

Rae pretended to misunderstand Molly's meaning. She leaned forward conspiratorially "Something to hide eh?" Molly giggled and rolled her eyes.

It was meant as a joke, but even as she said it, some small spark ignited at the back of Rae's mind. Was he hiding something from her? Rae shook her head slightly to rid herself of the thought: _Don't be stupid_._ Why would you even think that?_

She perched on the window seat as Molly curled up on the sofa. A small pile of presents were stacked up on the coffee table and a DVD of _Sweet Home Alabama_ was playing quietly on the TV in the corner. She cocked a brow at Molly "What did you have to bargain for this?"

"I have to tape _Britain's Got Talent_ and watch it when Evan's out of the house. He doesn't like Simon."

Rae lowered her voice and spoke from behind her hand "Or perhaps he likes Amanda a bit too much if you know what I mean..." Molly began to giggle.

"Ahem..." Evan had appeared at the sitting room door without them realising. Rae risked a cheeky smile "Only joking."

Evan gave a tight smile "You always were a joker, Rae." He handed over a glass of merlot. Rae raised it in a mock toast "The world needs laughter." When Evan's back was turned, she tipped the wink at Molly who had, in a stroke of luck, inherited her mother's poker face. She shouldn't be attempting to win cheap points from her goddaughter by making fun of the man who was supposed to be her ally, but sometimes Rae found the temptation just a little too strong.

X x X x X

Molly hadn't had a birthday cake since her mother's shooting. Alex had promised her they could blow out the candles together, and once it became clear that she wasn't going to be waking up any time soon, Molly decided that she didn't want another cake until her mother was there to see it. It was a decision that both Evan and Rae respected, and so Molly's birthdays since had consisted of a meal shared by the three of them followed by gift giving, all the time accompanied with a few sad glances at the empty place at the table. By eleven o' clock, Molly was yawning and Rae was shifting uncomfortably on the sofa. The solitary glass of wine she had allowed herself was long gone and she'd had to keep pinching her leg under the table and reminding herself that being able to extract herself from Evan's company was more important than having another glass to take the edge off. Happily, Molly hadn't noticed all evening and had regarded each of her presents with genuine delight – A silver fountain pen and a first edition _Jungle Book_ from Evan (_Nice one, Grandpa_ Rae had thought mutinously) and a bottle of Chanel _Cristalle_ and a Tiffany charm bracelet from Rae, who blatantly ignored Evan's disapproving stare as Molly opened them. From that point on, Rae had felt decidedly unwelcome and as midnight neared, she finally stood from the table and stretched out her long legs.

"Molly darling, I'm so sorry but I have to go. I'm going away for a while tomorrow so I shan't be around, but the minute I get back I think a little shopping trip is in order don't you?" Rae drew Molly into a tight hug "I hope you had a nice birthday, pet." Molly wrapped her arms around Rae's waist "Thank you, Rae."

"Don't mention it, dollface. Evan, do you mind if I use your bathroom before I go?"

"Of course," He stood quickly, obviously keen to get her out of the house "It's upstairs; I'll show you."

Rae followed Evan up the stairs and along the dark and undecorated corridors. Had she not even known this was Evan's house, she'd guess a middle aged bachelor lived there. The carpet was threadbare and fraying at the edges, the light fittings dated and cracked. All of a sudden, Evan stooped to pick up a stray piece of paper left on the floor. Clearly something he'd missed on his cleaning spree. He crumpled up the piece of paper and opened a door to his left just enough to throw it in and shut it again.

"Don't want to be known as slob, Evan?" Rae said teasingly, but quietly making a note of which door it was. Evan gave her the same tight lipped smile he had been giving her all evening and said nothing until they reached the door of the bathroom. "Here you are," He said gruffly, opening the door for her "I wouldn't want you to go leave without freshening your perfume first."

Rae stared at him for a small moment, her eyebrows raised "Was that a dig?"

"I rather think it was. You shouldn't be buying her perfume, Rae – she's fourteen for Christ's sake! It's so... adult."

Rae quickly glanced over her shoulder to check that Molly hadn't followed them upstairs before stepping closer to Evan and lowering her voice "Evan, in case you hadn't noticed, she _is_ nearly an adult! Yes, when I held her at her christening, I never imagined in a million years that _I_ would be the person to buy Molly her first perfume. I wish I wasn't. But that's the way the chips have fallen, at least for now. Just because Alex isn't here to see her grow up, doesn't mean you can keep her a child until she is!"

Evan sputtered for a moment. Rae suspected that she had just joined a select group of people who had ever dared to speak to Evan White like that. Eventually, he collected himself; levelling his gaze at her "This isn't over, Rae." He hissed, before stalking off down the corridor. Rae watched him leave before going into the bathroom.

X x X x X

As she washed her hands, Rae's mind flitted back to the piece of paper and the closed door along the corridor. _Was_ Evan White hiding something from her? What could it possibly be?

X x X x X

Would love to know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**X x X x X**

Rae slipped out of the bathroom and crept along the corridor with her back to the wall. She paused at the top of the stairs to make sure that Evan wasn't laying in wait for her. When she heard him laugh at something Molly said in the living room, Rae breathed a small sigh of relief and doubled back on herself, moving towards the door he had been so keen on keeping closed.

Pausing with her hand on the doorknob, Rae estimated that she had a minute and a half at the most before her absence looked suspicious. Turning the handle as quietly as possible, she gave a last glance over her shoulder and slipped into the room.

Opting not to turn on the light, Rae allowed herself a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. A fortuitously positioned streetlamp outside the window cast a faint orange glow over what Rae could only describe as the most horrendous mess she had ever seen. Piles upon piles of papers and folders were leaning precariously against one another. Against one wall, there were three large filing cabinets stood alongside a battered looking armoire that Rae guessed probably housed a similar version of what sat before her. With its back to the door and facing out of the window, seemingly an island of calm in the midst of the chaos was a large mahogany desk. On it sat Evan's laptop, a lamp and a neat pile of blank paper alongside a jar of pens.

_One minute, forty seconds left._

Figuring out that in the time she had, it would be near impossible to find a damning piece of evidence she wasn't even sure _existed_, Rae instead scanned the floor for the piece of crumpled up paper Evan had been keen to remove from her sight. Chances were that if her suspicions were anywhere near being correct, there would be some kind of clue on that scrap of paper.

_One minute thirty-five._

Dropping to her knees silently, Rae trusted her hands to do the looking as she crawled as stealthily as a cat. Feeling her fingers come into contact with it she allowed herself a second's worth of triumph. But only a second.

_One minute fifteen._

Un-crumpling the paper, Rae was surprised to see how old it was. Judging by the feel of it, she'd have guessed it was a few decades at least. Carbon dating would give her a better idea, but she knew if Evan truly was hiding something, stealing it would be a big mistake. She screwed up her eyes in an attempt to see what was written on it. Some of the writing had faded with age. Some of it had been scribbled out so aggressively that the pen had broken through the paper in places. Remembering the pens on the desk, Rae crawled forward as quickly as she dared and liberated one from the jar. Rolling up her sleeve, she quickly began to scrawl across her arm the words she could make out.

_Forty-Five seconds._

Outside, a bus went past, its lights casting a brighter glow over the room momentarily. Rae paused from her task and took the opportunity to survey the room clearly. The armoire and two of the filing cabinets had no lock on them, but the top drawer of the third bore a heavy-duty padlock. Turning her attention to the desk for a brief second, Rae noted that there were no keyholes in the drawers and nothing to suggest that they were locked in any other way. _So why just that one filing cabinet? What's in there?_

The bus rumbled past and Rae went back to her task, angling the paper so that it was facing toward the streetlamp's glow.

_Twenty Seconds._

Stretching up to place the pen back in its jar, Rae went to use the desk to pull herself to her feet. As she did, something caught her eye.

_Fifteen Seconds._

A file sat across the room atop a pile of others, the name written on the spine in black marker. In itself not bizarre, but a quick scan of the rest of the files in the room confirmed her suspicions. This was the only file with a singular label whereas all the rest were labelled with names, presumably of previous clients. Rae committed the single word to memory: _Snapdragon._

_Five seconds._

_Snapdragon Snapdragon Snapdragon. Why is that significant?_

_One Second. _

"Rae?" Molly's voice floated up the stairs.

_Time's up._

Rae felt her heart skip a beat. Instinctively, she screwed the piece of paper back up and dropped it roughly where she found it and quickly rolled her sleeve back down over her arm again. Slipping from the room and shutting the door soundlessly behind her, Rae brushed herself down and yelled breezily "Coming!"

To say Evan looked on edge would have been putting it mildly. In fact, Rae could have sworn she saw the muscle in his jaw spasm. Fixing Molly with a bright smile she hurried down the stairs "Got a bit lost. Like your bedroom though, Evan."

Evan smiled that familiar tight-lipped smile and held out her handbag "It's a shame you have to go so soon, Rae."

"Me too, but you know how it is." Rae took her bag and slung it over her shoulder whilst simultaneously pulling Molly into a tight hug with her other arm "I'm sorry darling." She murmured into her hair. Molly hugged her back tightly "Its fine, Rae. Really. I've had a lovely evening."

"I'm glad." Rae held Molly's face between her hands for a second before kissing her forehead "I'll come and see you as soon as I get back, pet."

Then it was time to endure the ever-awkward kiss on the cheek from Evan. As he leaned forward, Rae felt a twinge of guilt at sneaking into his study. It was probably just a paranoid delusion, but she couldn't ignore the suspicious feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Evan's beard scratching her cheek was her cue to pull back and make her way to the front door. Blowing a last kiss to Molly, Rae stepped out into the cool night and made her way to her car, feeling Evan's eyes burning into her back.

X x X x X

Once alone in her flat, Rae turned on all the lamps, poured herself a large vodka tonic and lit a menthol. Sinking onto the sofa, she allowed herself to breathe for a moment before rolling up her sleeve to reveal what had she had been able to copy from the paper. Rae leant forward to hold her arm under the light of her end-table lamp, resting her chin on the palm of her other hand, the one holding her cigarette. Tiny curls of smoke rose into the air, filling Rae's nostrils with the comforting scent.

The words had been written in the fashion of a list on the paper. Rae hadn't been able to make out the words that had been so violently crossed out, but she suspected that it would have made no more sense to her had she been able to read them. Nevertheless, she sought out a pen and a piece of paper and settled back down near to the lamp to copy them out, substituting Xs for the deleted words. Once finished, she sat back and took a deep drag of her cigarette as she stared at the paper in front of her:

_XXXXXXXXXX  
>XXXXX<br>The ferryman will take him  
>Shoes of ruby cannot save the pirate queen<br>A Lion hunt makes the sun set in the East  
>A Joshua walks unnoticed<br>Begonia Bluebottle_

"It's all just gibberish." Rae muttered to herself. Unfortunately, this did little to abate her suspicions. If it really _was_ just gibberish, why did Evan feel the need to hide it from her?

"I suppose they could be really shit song lyrics..." she mused, reaching over to stub out her cigarette. She curled up kittenishly on the sofa and stared at the paper a little longer. No. Song lyrics were definitely out. If there was one thing Evan White definitely didn't have, it was a creative streak.

_Why would the sun set in the East? And what's a Joshua? None it makes any kind of sense._

Glancing at the clock, Rae decided to push the strange riddle from her mind for the time being. She had other things to concentrate on. Crossing to her writing desk, she shoved the piece of paper into a drawer and locked it.

Before getting into bed, Rae opened her wardrobe and checked everything in her canvas duffel complied with her brief. Upon finding everything to her satisfaction, she fell into bed with an exhausted sigh and immediately fell asleep, dreaming of Snapdragons and red shoes.

X x X x X

_**Three Months Later**_

_**Somewhere in Morocco**_

Rae drained her beer and scanned the bar once more. Her contact was due to arrive any minute with a route in that could help her immensely. She had received the call naming the bar as a meeting site the day before and after confirming its validity with HQ, had come to check it out. It was a small and seedy joint at the top of a cobbled street, almost obscured by market stalls and fortune tellers. It hadn't looked suspicious and so she had returned the next day to meet the contact.

The bar housed only three other patrons – a pair of wizened old Frenchmen playing chess and a young prostitute who kept staring at the door, willing potential clients to enter so that she may begin to ply her trade. Behind the bar stood a stout middle aged man who kept winking at Rae and licking his lips.

"Well hello there ma'am. Travellin' alone?" Without even turning to look, Rae took a swig of her beer. She smiled sardonically.

"Just me and my God."

Satisfied that she was the contact he had arranged to meet, he slid onto the seat next to her and hailed the bartender "One for me and another for the lady."

He was so... _American_. All tanned skin and white teeth. It never failed to amaze Rae how perfect they all looked. She smiled as he handed the beer to her "Cheers."

"So little lady, would you be interested in attending a party tonight?" Rae nearly laughed out loud at the mock sleaze the CIA agent was putting on but kept it together in order to answer him "What kind of a party would that be?"

"Oh, just a few friends. More of a get-together really. Four or five. Lots of opportunities for... fun."

Rae smiled and raised her drink "Then count me in."

"I'll pick you up in an hour." And then he was gone, just a half empty beer in his place. That was how Rae liked it: quick and to the point. She didn't need to worry about whether he knew where to pick her up from. In fact, knowing the Americans, he'd probably been staking out her flat for a good few days. Draining the last of her beer, she got up and left.

Stepping out into the balmy evening air, Rae went to make her way down the cobbled street. Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm, and turned to see a tiny woman waving a pack of tarot cards, a grin playing on her little wizened lips "You want reading?"

"Oh, uh... no thanks." Rae turned to leave, but the woman grabbed her arm again "I see your hand then."

"Really, I don't want anything read..." Rae tried to protest, but the woman was insistent. She pawed at Rae's palm, holding it so close to her face that the tip of her nose was almost touching it.

"I see a saint in your hand... it is Eshua. That is our name for him. You may know him as Joshua."

Inwardly, Rae rolled her eyes. She had never heard of a Saint Eshua _or_ a Saint Joshua.

"He protects you, helps you live your secret life."

_What?_ Rae frowned and tried to grab her hand back, but the woman kept a tight grip on it. She smiled toothily "I am right." She went back to Rae's hand. Rae stood rooted to the spot, her heartbeat increasing slightly. All of a sudden, the woman looked up, stricken. She dropped Rae's hand and began to back away. Rae stared after her "What's the matter?"

The little woman continued to back away as she gabbled "The lifeline... it doubles back. You must go backwards. I finish now. No more. I go." And with that, she turned on her heel and hurried around the corner and out of sight, leaving Rae stood in the middle of the street feeling wholly perplexed.

X x X x X

The encounter played on her mind for the whole journey back to her flat. The woman had been so frightened that she had run off without accepting any payment. On instinct, Rae had checked her pockets in case she had simply been a distraction tactic for a wily thief. Upon discovering that nothing was missing from her person, she began to feel even more unsettled.

Letting herself into the shabby little flat that had been her home for the past couple of months, Rae set about getting ready for what lay ahead of her that evening. Showering first to cool off, she dressed in lightweight garb and tied her long hair back to keep it away from her face and off of her neck. Crossing to the wardrobe, she opened it and selected two handguns which she concealed about her person. Glancing at the clock, she calculated whether she had time for a last cigarette before he arrived. A knock at the door made a decision for her, and all thoughts of palms and saints flew from her mind.

_Showtime._

X x X x X

Making her way through Heathrow airport, Rae fought to suppress a smile at finally being home. The operation had gone off without a hitch, and after waiting for her bosses and the CIA to fight over who got to try the man they'd brought in, she had been instructed to return to England. In the end, Rae's superiors had given in when the CIA promised to acknowledge the British Government's contribution. And so it was, on that rainy September afternoon, that Rae Fisher arrived home. Tired, jetlagged and dirty, but home.

Happily making plans to shower, change and go straight to the hospital, Rae felt a new burst of energy as she let herself into her flat. She'd promised to take Molly shopping hadn't she? Rae felt a smile spread across her face at the prospect of spending some quality time with her goddaughter.

Stepping into her living room however, brought her crashing back to reality.

The place had been completely turned over. Books had been pulled off shelves and torn to shreds. The sofa cushions had been ripped apart, their stuffing spilling over the carpet. The front of the television had been smashed and the coffee table turned on its side.

Rae felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Something was wrong with this scene. Her gaze flitted over the room. Her stereo and speakers, her DVD player, laptop and ornaments... they were all still there. Her eyes fell upon the writing desk. The drawers had been broken into and ransacked. Instantly, Rae knew that that was the focus. The rest of the mess had been made afterwards to distract her, to make her think she'd been the victim of a random burglary.

Rae slowly dropped to her knees and began to sift through the papers that been tipped onto the floor. Naturally, she never kept anything in her flat that would be of any use to certain parties - that was just common sense. Slowly going through them, Rae's heart began to sink as she realised there was only one thing that was missing.

And only one person who could have taken it.

X x X x X

Again, would totally love some feedback! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Rae sat with her back against her living room wall, smoking a cigarette and surveying the damage around her. The sky outside her window was grey and turgid. Rainclouds, thick and angry looking broiled above, seemingly jostling against one another for space. Rae sniffed and flicked ash into a nearby pile of rubble. Her eyes were instinctively drawn to her old acoustic guitar – relatively unscathed but knocked onto its side in the corner of the room. It was the first and only one she had ever owned. When she was eight, her father had bought it home one night and deposited it at the foot of her bed as quietly as any drunk middle aged man can. Rae had been surprised to awaken to the sight of it in the morning; indeed, she had not made obvious any desire to learn to play a musical instrument at all. But her father was like that. He seemed to have a sixth sense for what a person might enjoy, and once she had mastered it to the point of being able to compose simple melodies Rae's attachment to it had grown in such a way that she knew in her heart it would never leave her side. She never asked her father where it had come from - he was always bringing home strange little bits and bobs. If questioned he would simply tap the side of his nose and say "Gift horse, sunshine, gift horse."

Sunshine. A fan of puns and plays on words, 'Sunshine' had always been her father's name for her. In fact, Rae had difficulty remembering an occasion when he'd actually addressed her by her Christian name.

The guitar had gone everywhere with her from boarding school to university right through to every place she had ever lived in. It had even accompanied her on her one and only foray into the festival world - Glastonbury, 1992. Rae had decided quickly that a life of not being able to shower and drinking watered-down beer was not for her. Alex, however, had had the time of her life and luckily this had made it bearable. Seeing Alex indulge her inner wild child was certainly something to behold.

Rae's relief at the unharmed status of her most prized possession, however, simply added to the notion that Evan White was behind this. All of the expensive looking gear in the flat had been trashed, but there had been a distinct lack of menace to it – the thing that she treasured above all else had remained intact.

Had he been interrupted and made a run for it before finishing the job? Or had he simply been too desperate for the piece of paper to care that Rae would instantly see through the facade? He couldn't have known that she had even been into his study that night, let alone that she had found the crumpled up paper – she hadn't even _taken_ anything.

But somehow his suspicions had been raised. Evan hadn't known for sure that she'd found anything... he couldn't have. So he would have come to her flat simply to check that she hadn't been snooping around and when he'd found the paper in her desk he'd known that she'd been in his study - knew also that if the paper simply disappeared, Rae would know he was hiding something. But why take only that? Evan wasn't careless by any stretch of the imagination. Therefore, to do such a bad job of turning her flat over in order to convince her that she had been burgled by some teen vandal or desperate heroin addict was very strange.

"Very strange indeed..." Rae murmured, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them.

One thing was for sure: she needed to get into Evan White's study again.

X x X x X

As she stood under the shower, Rae began to formulate a vague plan. A glance at the calendar had told her that it was Sunday – Molly and Evan would be spending the evening at the hospital with Alex. Shutting off the shower and grabbing a towel, Rae reached for her iPhone to send a text message to her goddaughter.

_Absolute scandal – got back to find flat has been broken into. Wanted to surprise you at the hospital but it looks like I'll be on the phone to the insurance company all night. Sorry darling. Will take you to lunch in the week. Best love x_

There. Molly would tell Evan soon enough. Hopefully, this would lead him to believe that she'd fallen for it. Dressing quickly and tying her hair back, Rae grabbed her digital camera from the bedside table and shoved it in her pocket along with several paperclips and a pen-torch.

On the dressing table, her iPhone beeped with a message from Molly. The fanfare set off a pang of guilt within Rae at having lied to the dear girl, but it was soon abated as she rationalised that were Evan hiding something sinister, Molly would surely be in danger. And that was something Rae simply couldn't allow.

X x X x X

The lack of covert hiding places on Evan White's street was astonishing, Rae noted, as she crouched on the cellar steps of a house opposite her intended target. For a small moment, she allowed herself to feel an iota of irrational petulance at Evan's clear lack of consideration for anyone who might need to spy on him. Any moment now, the owner of the house behind her could appear and demand to know why there was a middle aged woman stooped on their basement steps. Rae was taking an enormous risk by choosing such a precarious stakeout spot.

The sky above was now pitch black and starless, the threat of rain still hanging heavy in the air. Rae was thankful for the extra lack of visibility, it lending credence (in whatever small part) to her hiding place. She shuffled up one step, giving herself a clearer view across the street.

There were still lights on in Evan's place and Rae could see Molly pottering about in her bedroom on the first floor, tidying things restlessly. It would be time for them to leave for the hospital soon.

A taxi drove past, briefly illuminating Rae's crevice. She shrank back into the shadows momentarily and began to regroup her thoughts. Was she really about to break into Evan White's house? The house where her Goddaughter currently lived?

An uneasy feeling had settled in the pit of Rae's stomach, a feeling she was not altogether familiar with. Rae Fisher was not naturally predisposed to feelings of fear and anxiety. It was what had initially attracted her to the job that she did, why she was so good at it.

And yet at this very moment, although she would never admit it, Rae was very frightened indeed. Frightened of how long she had known Evan White without suspecting him in the slightest, frightened of what she might find when she broke into his study, and frightened (so very frightened) that somehow, some way, it might have something to do with the shadow of a human being currently laying in a bed in the Royal Free Hospital. Rae shook her head as if to try and clear it of the thought.

_Am I thinking straight?_

Wasn't this what happened when her kind went rogue? Started having delusions and paranoid fantasies about those closest to them, seeing conspiracies in cups of coffee and traffic wardens? Was she even stable?

_Of course, you fool. A madman doesn't question whether he is mad. Our madness is his normality. _

"I bet that's exactly what a madman would say..." Rae murmured distractedly, her mind settling into a circular pattern of thought, flitting with idle angst from the dismayed confusion at everything she was doing to wondering at her own mental competency.

Eventually, Rae watched Evan and Molly leave the house and flag down a taxi. She waited until it was out of sight and counted to two hundred before finally slipping from her hiding place, up onto the pavement and across the street. She had spotted a small alleyway where the residents of the street could wheel their bins out of their back gardens to be collected once a week. Initially, Rae had wondered whether the alleyway on the corresponding side of the street would have made a better stakeout spot, but soon found that they were not much wider than the bins themselves (presumably in order to prevent any kids from sneaking back there to smoke or have sex or any fun at all). Glancing around quickly to make sure there was nobody on the street, Rae sauntered casually into the alley and set about the unenviable task of climbing over several wheelie bins as quietly as possible.

X x X x X

Having successfully managed to gain access to Evan's courtyard garden without drawing any attention to herself, Rae paused at the patio door, knowing that to unpick the lock would signify the point of no return. Taking a deep breath, she reached into her pocket and drew out a paperclip and the pen-torch. Lock-picking had been something she had learnt out of necessity one evening at boarding school when Camilla Thornton had locked her in a cupboard. Once she had gotten over the initial panic at the small and seemingly airless space, Rae had perched herself on a box and dug out several of the hairgrips that littered every single one of her pockets. Four mangled hairgrips later, she had emerged with spiders in her hair and an impressive new talent. Over the years, Rae had honed her skills and on more than one occasion they had been her saving grace.

Upon hearing the lock give a small but satisfying click, Rae straightened up and let herself in to Evan's house. Moving swiftly, she neglected to turn on any lights and instead chose to rely on her knowledge of the layout of the ground floor. Molly and Alex had been right – when not expecting her as a guest, it would appear that Evan White was a man for whom mess knew no bounds. Newspapers and books littered every available surface, half empty coffee cups gathered dust and countless dirty plates festered in the sink. Rae allowed herself a moment's worth of repulsion. Then she went to work.

Taking the stairs two at a time, she reached the first floor landing and made a beeline for the study. Casting a last glance over her shoulder more out of habit than genuine suspicion, Rae opened the door and slipped inside.

Deciding immediately to opt for the most obvious possibility Rae started toward the locked filing cabinet, reaching into her pocket for another paperclip. It took a quarter of an hour's worth of intense fiddling in order to open the heavy duty padlock but eventually, it gave out. Rae heaved the drawer open to reveal the contents: several folders labelled with dates as well as the one she had alighted upon the last time she had snuck in here – the one labelled _Snapdragon_. Holding her pen torch between her teeth, she began to rifle through the drawer. Her fingers froze when she reached a folder labelled with a date that made her blood run cold.

_15th July, 2008._

_Molly's birthday._

"The day Alex was shot..." Rae whispered. Evan had picked Molly up in the morning, right after Arthur Layton had tried to use her as a human shield. Why would Evan have anything marked for this date? Molly had told her he'd spent the entire day with her aside from having taken a couple of calls on his mobile.

Could this simply be evidence that Evan had compiled against Layton? Could Rae be jumping to conclusions about the significance of this folder? No. Evan wouldn't have been allowed any input on the case – he was too closely involved, there would have been a conflict of interests.

Pulling the file from where it was nestled amongst its brethren, Rae laid it out on top of the cabinet. Breathing deeply to try and calm herself, she flipped open the file. There was a letter addressed to Evan on the top of the papers, dated the fourth of July, 2008 and written by hand. The hand in question had an agitated, almost illegible scrawl. Rae squinted to make out the lettering.

_Evan, _

_Shall we finish what we started? _

_A.L_

A.L. Arthur Layton. Rae could feel the blood pounding in her ears. Moving the letter aside she had to stifle a cry.

Surveillance photos of Alex. Dropping Molly off at school, arriving and leaving work, going for a run... Rae's heart skipped a beat as she found one of the lunch date they'd had two days before Alex had been shot. Evan (or more likely, someone Evan had paid) had been tailing Alex for up to a week before the incident. But why? What could Evan possibly have to do with this?

Fumbling for her camera, Rae began to take pictures of everything. As she shifted the file to get a better view, some of the papers tucked into the back of it came loose and fell to the floor. Rae stooped to pick them up. There were several more photographs and some newspaper cuttings. These photographs were considerably older and as Rae shone her torch on them, she could be in no doubt that the man in the photographs was a much younger Evan White. He appeared to be in a steamy clinch with a woman that Rae knew from somewhere, but couldn't think where. Nevertheless, she photographed these as well and resolved to dwell upon the woman's identity later.

This plan became superfluous however, once she turned to the newspaper clippings.

'**MURDERED SOLICITORS HOUSE RANSACKED'**

'**The marital home of the late Tim and Caroline Price was burgled on the day of their death, it has been revealed by the Metropolitan police. The Scene of Crime officials arrived at the Price's home to find that someone (possibly the murderer) upon hearing news of the car bomb that killed both solicitors outside their daughter Alexandra's school on the 10th of October came to the house in search of what will undoubtedly be vital evidence in the search for justice. Police are unwilling to say what they believe to be missing at present, but are quick to assure the public they are following several promising lines of enquiry...'**

The article went on to detail the Price's career and standing in London in the early 1980s, but Rae had stopped reading. Her eyes instead were drawn to the family photograph the paper had printed of the Prices. The face of the woman smiling out at the world, her arm drawn tightly around her daughter's shoulders was undoubtedly the same woman getting overly friendly with Evan in those pictures. The caption beneath the photograph read _'The late Tim and Caroline Price on holiday with their daughter Alexandra, or Alex for short'_.

Rae clapped a hand over her mouth. That picture was the same one Alex had always had on her mantelpiece. Tim and Caroline Price were her parents. Alex had told her that they'd died in an accident when she was eight years old and Evan had been her guardian ever since.

So Evan had had an affair with Alex's mother before she'd died. Had Alex known about this? She couldn't have, it would have destroyed her.

_Don't get caught up in this now. Just photograph it and move on. You don't know how much time you have._

Rae quickly photographed the remainder of what was in the folder and slipped it back into the filing cabinet, turning her attention to the file labelled Snapdragon. It was relatively thin compared to the file she had just been through, but when Rae opened it, what she saw made her blood freeze in her veins for the second time that evening.

**Name: Rae Elizabeth Fisher  
>Date Of Birth: 11.11.1973<br>Nationality: British Caucasian  
>Gender: Female<br>Official Date Of Recruitment: 16.05.2005**

This was her file. _Her file_. Rae suddenly found it hard to breathe. _She_ wasn't even allowed access to this! How the hell had it ended up in Evan White's study? These papers detailed her every movement since she had left the police force for the security service in 2005. Every assignment she had completed, every contact she had made. If there was a leak at Mi6, the whole country was in jeopardy. Rae's head spun with untold possibilities. Her hands shook as she turned the pages. Everything was in there, dating from her university years at Oxford through to the ten years she spent with the Met, her psychiatric assessment, her interview transcripts, _everything_.

Rae compulsively turned the pages with her brain on autopilot until she came across something unfamiliar - another photograph. In the foreground stood three figures with their backs to the camera, two female and one male. What the scene unfolding in front them was, Rae could only guess at. The male cut a formidable figure, his broad shoulders and long black coat giving him an imposing air. The shorter of the females had a boyish figure and whatever she could see seemed to be affecting her emotionally – the second female figure had a comforting arm around her shoulders. It was night time, - that much was obvious –and the focal figures were stood near to a building that looked like a public house or a restaurant. Flashing lights reflected off a nearby window, and if Rae squinted, she thought she could make out the reflections of several people milling about. Above the window Rae spotted the first few letters of the establishment's name – 'The W-'. The date printed in the corner of the photo was February 3rd, 1984.

None of this fit. That photograph had nothing to do with her or her files, surely? In February 1984 she had only been ten years old. What was it doing in the Snapdragon folder? It had to have slipped in there by mistake. But still, Rae couldn't take her eyes off of the morbid tableau. Something within her knew that the photographer's aim had been to capture and document those three figures, not what was going on around them. And beneath that aim, there had been something... sinister.

As she reached the last item in the folder, Rae's heart sank. Picking it up tenderly, she hardly dared believe it. The piece of paper Evan had so desperately wanted to keep from her sight nestled between her fingertips, the irrevocable proof that he was up to something. And, perhaps even more heartrending, that it involved _her_.

XXXXXXXX  
>XXXXX<br>_The Ferryman will take him  
>Shoes of ruby cannot save the pirate queen<br>A Lion hunt makes the sun set in the East  
>A Joshua walks unnoticed<br>Begonia Bluebottle_

With trembling fingers, Rae once again reached for her camera. She photographed the piece of paper once, twice, three times to make sure she had a clear shot and then stood staring at the riddle she had unearthed, her heartbeat still thudding in her ears, her legs and back stiff with the amount of time she had been stood still, hear head aching with the huge intake of information.

Taking a deep breath, Rae forced herself to close the folder and place it back in the filing cabinet. The logical part of her brain told her to take it and go straight to headquarters, kick up as much stink as possible and demand they take Evan White into custody. Her instincts however, whispered to her that there was more to be done before this mystery was solved.

A quick glance at her iPhone told Rae that she was nearly out of time. A fog had descended over her vision, and her mind was having trouble adjusting. She felt a million emotions all at once – betrayed, violated, anxious, but above all bewildered. Sliding the drawer shut and making sure that she left everything as it was, Rae patted her pockets to double check that she had everything with her and slipped silently from the room.

Completely forgetting to re-lock the filing cabinet's padlock.

X x X x X


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**X x X x X**

Smoking in bed was ordinarily not something Rae would even consider but seeing as she had already lied to her goddaughter and broken into Evan White's private documents that day, she thought it made sense to score a hat-trick of idiotic behaviour before the universe scored it for her.

Sipping at the triple whiskey she'd poured herself the minute she'd hobbled through the door, Rae sunk a little lower in her bed and fixed the painting across the room with a dazed stare. It was a print of Jack Vettriano's _Dancer In Emerald_. Although Rae had always insisted that she knew little of art, her heart and her imagination had been captured by the grace of the dancers, the deep green of the woman's dress, and the turbulent grey clouds in the sky. More than anything, Rae loved Vettriano's decision not to show the subject's faces. To her, this particular choice was designed in order to make the viewer feel transported into the body of the subject. Rae liked to imagine that mere moments after the last brush stroke had been committed to the canvas, the heavens had opened up and drenched the subjects as they waltzed among the sand dunes.

How on earth was she ever going to figure this out? Rae inhaled the calming smoke and massaged her temples. What the hell was Evan playing at? Why had Arthur Layton been in contact with him? And more importantly, what on earth did any of it have to do with _her?_ Where did she go from here? Who could she speak to without raising too much suspicion? Rae's thoughts drifted to her camera that she had hidden once she'd arrived home. The images stored on it only added to her confusion. Rae felt as though she had joined a mystery already in progress – that what she had stumbled upon in Evan's office was only the penultimate chapter in a deeply sinister tale. Her instincts told her that she had merely scratched the surface. But now what?

"Now what indeed...?" Rae murmured to herself as she stubbed out her cigarette and fumbled with the bedside lamp.

X x X x X

_Rae knew where she was before she even opened her eyes. The scent of washing powder mingled with the late evening air filtering through the window that she always forgot to shut. Still, it was the hottest August they had ever lived through so it wasn't likely to matter. The screams of children playing in the courtyard downstairs floated up to the top floor flat._

_That summer had been particularly glorious. Rae's parents had departed for their cottage in France for three months, leaving the two girls to their own devices. It had all been rather last minute but Rae had grown used to their whimsicalities over the years. They had implored the two new graduates to accompany them abroad but three months of freedom in 'Cool Britannia' had been too tempting to pass up. _

_And so for three solid months, Rae Fisher and Alex Price had danced into the wee hours of every morning, sunbathed on Primrose Hill, screamed 'Girl Power!' from the top decks of buses, made young men carry them from club to club and generally had a wonderful time. Their soundtrack had consisted mainly of Oasis, Paul Weller and Blur with the occasional injection of Take That or Del Amitri to lighten the mood. Life was so simple it didn't bear thinking about. _

_Opening her eyes, Rae turned her face towards the window and smiled as she felt the late afternoon sunshine warm her face. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she drank in the sights and smells of her old bedroom. After she'd moved out, her room had been turned into a guest room. In her heart of hearts, Rae knew that it was unreasonable to demand that her room be kept exactly as she left it, but seeing the space in which she had grown up awash with neutral tones and tasteful art made her yearn a little for the days when that room was her own private sanctuary - evidence that at one time, she had lived there._

_Acutely aware that this was one of the most detailed dreams she had ever had, Rae slid off her bed and moved slowly through the flat to the kitchen, where the clattering of plates and dishes could be heard over the loud melody of 'Country House'. Rae leaned against the doorway and smiled as she watched a twenty-two year old Alex washing up, resplendent in marigolds and swaying along to the music. The early evening sunshine shone through the window and cast a warm yellow glow over the kitchen, bouncing off the freshly washed glasses to create a mesmerising pattern on the far wall. _

_Rae surveyed the scene before her, feeling a thousand different feelings. Part of her wanted to catch Alex's attention, to reach out and touch her and alert her of her presence. The other part of her was rooted to the spot, breathing as quietly as possible and trying to preserve a moment that at the time, she had taken completely for granted. Rae could barely believe that the pretty girl washing dishes and singing along to Blur in front of her very eyes would eventually become the silent husk lying in a bed on a drip on the other side of London. _

_This felt so real. How could it be happening? Rae cast a glance down at herself. She was still the skinny thirty-seven year old with too many freckles from careless sunbathing. She reached a hand up to touch her hair. In her early twenties she had cropped it – a bad decision by all accounts, and one that she had subconsciously been atoning for by growing her hair ever since. Now, right here in her dream, it was just the same as when she had fallen asleep – sitting past her shoulders in fine light brown strands. _

"_I don't understand..." The words were a mere murmur and they had left her lips before she had even thought them. The young Alex ceased in her activity and peeled off her marigolds, turning to face her friend. Rae almost began to cry when she saw her best friend's face. Still that gentle smile and the tiny frown line between her brows, still that slight incline of her head that meant she was really paying attention to you, like Snow White listening to the animals. Rae had to resist the urge to break down completely. She opened her mouth only to find herself unable to speak._

"_What don't you understand?" Alex leaned back against the kitchen unit and folded her arms. Rae could bear it no longer. She didn't care that it wasn't real. Her best friend was standing right in front of her – the only person she would tell every secret she had ever had without a second thought – and Rae was damned if she cast this opportunity aside. Right now, it was the closest she could get to Alex. _

_She sighed and moved to sit at the kitchen table "At the moment, everything. I don't understand why Evan was in contact with Layton before her shot you, I don't understand why he had you under surveillance, and I don't understand why the bloody hell he has my personnel files."_

"_No," Alex pulled out a chair and sat down next to Rae and rested her chin on her hands "I don't imagine you do."_

"_I mean, it's not like I can take this to my boss or anything. Then I'd have to admit that I'd broken into a civilian's house without any just cause other than my own gut instinct." _

"_True." _

"_But what if this turns out to be really bad?" Rae rubbed at her eyes "I could be in danger. Or worse, Molly could be in danger. Not that I think Evan would ever hurt her, but if he's mixed up in something shady, chances are someone has half an eye on her."_

"_Also true."_

"_And what the hell were those photographs doing in my files? I had nothing to do with anything in 1983... well, nothing except being sent to the headmaster's office for throwing water bombs off the roof of the school."_

"_... Clearly we had very different childhoods."_

_Rae stopped her rambling for a moment and stared at the twenty-two year old version of her best friend "I miss you so much." _

"_I know." Alex leaned back in her chair and gestured around herself "Why do you think your subconscious chose here?" _

_Rae smiled a little "I think it's the last time I remember us being really free. After that summer, we joined the force and you met Pete and had Molly and then we were grownups and it seemed like that was all we had ever done. Secretly, I think I still feel like it's the real world that's the dream." _

"_I suppose you're right." Alex smiled and they were silent for a moment. Paul Weller played softly on the radio in the background. Finally Alex spoke again "It was never... bad, though. Was it?"_

"_No of course not. It just never really felt real or concrete. It seemed like we were still little girls pretending at being coppers. I don't even think I thought it was real when I took that transfer."_

"_I cried the first day I had to go into CID without you." _

"_I know. You rang me from the toilet, you great big blubbing loser."_

"_Don't act like you didn't burst into tears the minute you picked up the phone." _

_They lapsed into silence once more, Paul Weller's melody proving a melancholy soundtrack to the moment. Rae swallowed hard and looked over at Alex, her eyes brimming with unshed tears "Please come home, Ally. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do now."_

_Alex smiled a wobbly, tearful little smile that Rae knew mirrored her own "You know exactly what to do now."_

X x X x X

Rae awoke with a crick in her neck and a pain in her back. She hated getting old. The bedside clock read seven AM. Rae allowed herself a small smile as she remembered a time in her life when she couldn't even be sure that seven AM _existed_. Hauling herself out of bed and popping a couple of aspirin for her back, she glanced at her iPhone. Monday morning. She was due in work for a debrief but then the rest of the day was hers. Recalling the previous night's dream, Rae made her mind up to spend the afternoon at the hospital.

These plans were scuppered, however, almost as soon as she had gotten out of the shower. Her house phone rang and Rae knew this could only be one person. A person who had refused to purchase a mobile phone, decrying it as the death of privacy and civilisation.

She picked up the phone "Hello, dad."

"Good morning sunshine!" Her father chuckled at his own old joke "It was nice of you to call and let us know you were back."

"Sorry, dad. I only got back yesterday. How did you find out?"

"I have eyes and ears everywhere, sunshine. Am I to assume you're free for lunch with myself and your mother later on today?"

Rae cradled the phone between her head and shoulder and she clumsily tried to comb her hair "That sounds lovely dad, but I'm supposed to go to the hospital this afternoon."

"Oh it won't be a late one, dear. I know you have things to do. Shall we say, one o' clock at home? Steak and Ale pie with Chocolate Mousse cake to follow..."

Laughing a little, Rae submitted "Alright then, one o' clock it is."

"Marvellous." He rang off. In spite of herself, Rae had to smile. Her father was a man to whom a person could not say no. Not because he was sinister or nasty, but because he simply made offers one couldn't refuse.

X x X x X

The debrief was unsurprising. Rae always found a debrief to be the most unnecessary of all activities she was required to participate in. She couldn't get her head around the idea of relaying all of someone's actions to them, as though they hadn't been there when it had all been going on. She had hung back for a moment at the end, wanting desperately to say to her boss about what she had found at Evan White's house, but for some reason she couldn't make herself say anything. Her boss had stared at her quizzically, waiting for Rae to say what she had to, his body already halfway out of the door. But Rae couldn't speak. She had left the building feeling guilt-ridden and ashamed.

She had opted to get off the tube a station early – there was only a finite amount of time Rae could spend on the underground before wanting to go on a homicidal rampage – and walk up Camden High Street to get to Regent's park, where her parents lived. As she left the station, she stopped for a moment to take in the hustle and bustle of the High street on which she had spent most of her youth. The station let out onto a busy intersection and Rae could see the roads leading off to Kentish Town and Holloway. On the other side of the road was The World's End, a pub that her father had frequented before it had become a hangout for posers.

Negotiating Camden High Street itself was something Rae had never enjoyed. People holding signs and leaflets for tattoo parlours seemed to jump out of nowhere and stuff their wears into her hands and the pavements were always stretched to well over capacity. By the time she reached Regent's Park she was sick to death of tourists.

Rae parents had lived in the same flat for their entire marriage. It was a comfortable, airy affair with spacious rooms overlooking Regent's park that had managed to accommodate all three of them without making them feel as though they lived on top of one another. Of course, Rae's parents owned small properties in France and Tuscany that they rented throughout the year so their entire lives did not revolve around their north London abode and Rae suspected that had this not been the case, things would have been very different. Letting herself in, she called out to her parents "I'm home!"

Rae's mother peered around the kitchen door "Hello darling! Come on in, lunch is nearly up. Your father's just about to clear the table, aren't you Jim?"

Lunch went by in the same whirligig way it always did when Rae was home. Her parents knew they weren't allowed to ask questions about her work and so the chatter remained consistently about what they had done to the villas that summer – planted about a thousand flowers, from the look of the pictures.

"You wouldn't believe how much of the garden he dug up in Tuscany planting those blasted Begonias."

_Begonia._

_Begonia Bluebottle._

Rae's breath caught in her throat "What?"

"Some gypsy woman came to the house in Tuscany trying to sell me a job lot of the things. Said it had balancing and harmonising properties. Obviously the last part was rubbish, but the garden needed something in it..."

Her father carried on talking, but Rae could only hear her pulse in her ears. This had to be a coincidence, it had to be. She was just getting paranoid, that was all there was to it. Begonias could mean any number of things – they weren't exactly rare, were they?

"Did you know that in the olden days, flowers used to have a specific meaning?" Rae's mother was saying "Red roses are for love and respect, and Calla lilies are for beauty. I think Begonias are supposed to mean danger, or beware."

Rae felt as though she was moving through treacle "Do you know what Snapdragon means?"

Her mother frowned "I'm not sure. There's an old book on flowers kicking around upstairs, I'm sure you could find it in there."

Jim Fisher glanced at the clock "It's a quarter to three, sunshine. Didn't you want to go to the hospital today?"

"What?" Rae checked her phone "_Bollocks!_"

"Don't swear dear, it's so unbecoming. I'll get you that book to read on the train."

X x X x X

Rae became acutely aware that someone was following her almost the moment she left the hospital after a four hour vigil. Her training made pattern recognition almost as natural as breathing, and right now in the rear view mirror there was a black Bentley weaving in and out of traffic behind her – too far back for her to be able to see the number plate, but definitely making sure it could keep her car in sight.

In situations such as these, Rae knew that going back to her own home would be stupid. She had been followed a few times over the years and once the initial knot of tension in her stomach subsided, the process became rather banal. Glancing at her petrol gauge, Rae decided to stay in busy public space for as long as possible, dump her car for the night and catch a taxi to a hotel.

Finding a busy restaurant, Rae got herself a table and seated herself with her back to the wall, facing the entrance - that way she could see anyone who came in after her. Once satisfied that she could not be caught unawares, Rae opened the book on flowers her mother had given her and skipped straight to the section she required.

'_Antirrhinum Majus, commonly known as Snapdragon, is important as a model organism in botanical research and its genome has been studied in great detail. In more romantic days, when flowers were used to communicate feelings and messages, the Snapdragon traditionally signifies the art of deception and spying.'_

Rae could feel a tension headache beginning at the base of her skull. What did that mean for the folder she had found in Evan's study? And what did it have to do with Alex, Arthur Layton, and perhaps most inexplicably, herself? Rae's heart sank a little further as she realised that there was only one option left that she could take.

And that option was, by the looks of things, having her followed around London.

Staring at her phone as apprehensively as if it were an unexploded bomb, Rae knew that she would have to speak to Evan if she was going to have any chance of protecting Molly. In all likelihood he would give nothing significant away, but it was a chance that she was going to have to take.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Oh. How are you? Molly told me about your flat."

"We need to talk. Is Molly at home tonight?"

"Rae, what's the matter? What would you need to speak to me about?"

"A few things actually... the most recent one being your decision to have me followed."

Silence at the end of the phone.

"Are you still there?"

"Meet me on London Bridge in an hour."

X x X x X


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

X x X x X

"Meet me on London Bridge in an hour." The phone went dead with a _click._ Rae stared open-mouthed at the handset for a moment. Outside, the wind had picked up and it had started to rain again.

Was she seriously considering doing this? Rae put her phone down and pretended to study the book in front of her again. She stared hard at an illustration of _Antirrhinum Majus_ until she felt her eyes watering. At the periphery of her consciousness, as vague sense of panic had begun to percolate and she could feel herself becoming more and more tense. There was no disguising the fact that she was in way over her head here, but that wasn't what was worrying her. As far as Rae Fisher was concerned, being in over one's head was an occupational hazard. In fact, it was practically a requirement.

No. The uneasiness that was threatening to elbow its way to the forefront of her mind had formed because for once Rae had absolutely no idea what any of this meant. If her personnel file was linked in any way to everything else in the Snapdragon folder - Alex's shooting, her parent's death, and those bizarre photographs – then this whole rotten thing went right back to the early 1980s. But how could she be linked to something that was set in motion when she was nine years old? And, come to think of it, were her bosses involved?

It was possible that as a lawyer, Evan White had managed to access her personnel file through some shady dealings. It wasn't uncommon for bent operatives to exchange inside information for an extra pair of eyes on the street. But a personnel file was something very different altogether – whoever got it would have needed full security clearance, and they didn't just _give _that away. It had to be somebody high up.

Sighing heavily and draining her coffee cup, Rae knew that she had no choice but to meet Evan on London Bridge in – she glanced at the clock -forty-five minutes. It was a big risk, and she was sure that he knew that she would be thinking that. Standing up and leaving some money on the table, Rae walked out of the restaurant and hailed a cab. The roads had cleared a little after rush hour, but London never really got quiet until the wee small hours of the morning. The cab driver chatted inanely and incessantly for most of the journey, but Rae soon deduced that he was satisfied with the most basic of responses. She stared out of the window at the autumn rain, watching the city go by and trying to ignore the feelings of foreboding simmering in the pit of her stomach.

Evan was already there when she arrived, standing at the Northern end under a huge black umbrella. Rae paid the taxi driver and got out. For a moment, they stood staring at one another, not speaking. Rae felt the rain begin to soak through her clothes and shivered noticeably. This seemed to break the spell and Evan shifted uncomfortably "I suppose you'd better get under the umbrella."

Rae didn't know how to answer this so she complied wordlessly and gestured for them to start walking. Slowly they made their way across the bridge which, thanks to the rain and the time of night, had been left practically void of foot traffic.

In the end, it was Rae who spoke first "You broke into my flat."

"You took information that didn't belong to you. Not only that, but you broke into my home yesterday and took more information that didn't belong to you."

Rae froze in her tracks "How did you...?"

"It was careless of you to leave my filing cabinet unlocked."

"_Shit_." Rae began to walk again, quickening her pace a little. The wind had picked up and with it, the rain. Evan kept in time beside her.

"I trust you don't do that very often. Either that, or your employers are of a very forgiving disposition."

"Did you have Alex shot?"

"Don't be so fucking stupid." Evan spat vehemently. Rae rounded on him, lowering her voice to a hiss as a lone jogger went past "Then what the _hell_ is going on here, Evan? You can't expect me to just pretend that nothing's happening! You've got information on me, on Alex's accident, on the death of her parents, and a whole load of other stuff that I'm pretty sure you shouldn't have. What are those photographs all about? Evan, what are you hiding?"

"Rae, this goes deeper than you could possibly imagine," Evan gripped Rae's elbow with his free hand "To be honest, I didn't think you would stay around that long after Alex was shot but you did and that made things very... difficult."

"Difficult? Difficult how?"

"I had to keep an eye on you, make sure you didn't find out too much. For a while, that was fine." Evan looked shiftily from side to side "We should keep walking. Put your arm through mine."

Rae gritted her teeth and slipped her arm through Evan's. They continued to walk, stiffly, towards the south bank "Evan, why was Arthur Layton in contact with you before he shot Alex? Was that the thing you had to finish?"

"Rae, the less you know about this, the better off you'll be."

"Somehow, I doubt that." They had reached the south entrance to London Bridge and Evan had led them down the side steps to the river bank. It was dark and secluded down there – not somewhere any patrolling cop would think to check without reason to. In any case, the tide was coming in and soon there would be nowhere left to stand. Rae knew that wherever this was going it couldn't be good, but somehow she couldn't make herself walk away.

Evan removed his arm from hers and turned his back on her, staring out over the Thames "I promised to keep Molly safe the same way I kept Alex safe, Rae."

"So did I, Evan! I stood next to you in that church and made that same promise!"

"Well she's not safe with you around, Rae!" Evan shouted, turning on her suddenly "It things had gone the way they were supposed to, this wouldn't even be happening!"

"What's happening? Evan for the love of god _just tell me!"_ Rae was practically begging now. Well, as close to begging as she got. As she stared at the man in front of her, it occurred to her that he looked extremely sad. What surprised her most was the expression in Evan's eyes. It was almost... mournful.

"I'm sorry, Rae. I wish things could have been different."

"Evan I'll be honest – this doesn't look good. So far, I've chosen not to say anything to the right people. You know who those people are, don't you?"

In front of her, Evan's shoulders sagged and he hung his head "I know who those people are." His voice was quiet. Rae pulled her coat tighter around her. From down on the river bank, the noise of the traffic above seemed as though it was coming from a different world.

"I know who those people are," Evan said again "And they know who you are. I'm doing this for them."

Rae wasn't sure she'd heard him properly "... What?" Her bewildered question seemed to float away on the frantic wind that came at her from all sides, whipping her hair around her face and making her eyes water.

"You were never supposed to be involved in her life, Rae. You were never supposed to meet her. If everything had gone the way it was supposed to..."

"You keep saying that – if _what_ had gone the way it was supposed to?"

"I'm sorry, Rae."

"Sorry for what? Evan, what-" Too late she saw the gun, the glint of metal in the night. She felt the impact of the bullets as they entered her body one by one. There was no real pain – she suspected that was the shock setting in. She was dimly aware of her body being shifted around, her arms and legs being bound together. Every so often Evan's face would swim into her line of vision as he checked her eyes for signs of life. Finally, Rae felt herself being rolled down over the pebbles to the water's edge. The sounds of the tide lapping against the bank got closer and Rae tried to open her mouth but no sounds would come out. Evan was fiddling with her coat, she noted with a mind that was quickly losing its ability to think. It dawned on her slowly that he was putting rocks in her pockets.

Then the water was in her mouth, her eyes and ears, and everything was dark.

X x X x X

_Let's dance_

_Put on your red shoes and dance the blues_

_Let's dance_

_To the song they're playin' on the radio_

**I've got a little present for you, Rae. **

_If you say run, I'll run with you_

_If you say hide, we'll hide_

**It has to be our secret. You mustn't show anyone.**

_Let's dance for fear_

_Your grace should fall_

_Let's dance for fear tonight is all_

**Can you keep a secret?**

X x X x X

All of her senses came rushing back at once. As she moved, she found she couldn't gain purchase on anything – there was nothing below her and nothing above. Nothing to grab onto. She opened her eyes and could see nothing but murky darkness. Panicking now, she opened her mouth to scream and found that no sound came out. Her limbs were no longer bound, but her clothes hindered her struggle for the surface as she kicked and squirmed with every ounce of fight left in her.

Bursting through the surface of the Thames with much gasping and flailing, Rae was almost blinded by the bright sunlight reflecting off the water. Breathing hard and whipping her head around looking for the nearest shore or buoy, she was dimly aware that it couldn't possibly be morning already. Spying the shore of the north bank around seventy-five yards away, Rae willed her limbs to struggle in that direction. Again, her clothing swamped her, and letting out an animal howl of desperation she jerked her body erratically toward dry land. Slowly, slowly, she managed to get closer and as her feet came into contact with the grit of the shore, she staggered out of the water, fell to her knees and began to cry. Great, wracking sobs that took over her entire body and forced her to lie down on the ground in order to get her breath back. Rae curled up in the foetal position and listened to the sound of her heartbeat in her ears, the sounds of London all around her.

Memories of the night before came back to her in snatches. She remembered Evan and the gun. She remembered the rain and the rocks in her pockets. Rae ran a hand over her torso. No bullet wounds. Perhaps he had missed her and knocked her out instead. Tied her up and tried to drown her.

No. She remembered each bullet hitting her, ripping through her skin.

But where were they now?

Rae lay on the bank for some time, dazed. When she finally heaved herself up on to her feet, she fell over again almost immediately. Looking at her feet for the first time that day, Rae felt her breath catch in her throat as she realised she was wearing the highest heels she'd worn since she was twenty-three. Not only that, but she was no longer in the smart suit she'd worn to her debriefing the day before. Her wardrobe had changed entirely. Aside from the heels, she was wearing black skinny jeans and a white crop top under thick black braces. Her hands were covered with lacy black fingerless gloves. Had Evan changed her clothes before dumping her in the river? And if so, why had he dressed her as a young Madonna?

"Oi!" A man's voice called out from above. Rae craned her head back, but she could see only the bright sunlight. She squinted and put a hand over her eyes.

"Are you alright down there?" the bodiless voice yelled. Rae struggled to her knees "You have to help me," She choked "He shot me and – and changed my clothes and left me in the river to die-"

"You don't look that shot, love." The voice said mildly "What do you think Ray? Lady says she was shot and left in the river."

"And my clothes – my clothes..." Rae wrapped her arms around herself and sank to the floor once more, suddenly feeling very tired and nauseated. She shut her eyes "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Oh, bloody fantastic – another drunk." A different voice, this one gruffer and more agitated "Fourth one this week – why do they never do it in the privacy of their own homes?" Rae could hear the voice getting closer, the crunch of pebbles underfoot "Take her in and let her sleep it off. Do you reckon she'll puke in the car?"

Rae felt herself being lifted up and carried away as once more, she lost consciousness.

X x X x X


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**X x X x X**

The noise reached her first – Unintelligible, faraway shouts echoing off of stone walls in bare, chilly corridors. The footfalls of heavy-set men as they hurried to and fro past her resting place. The whistle of a draught that was coming from some inexplicable place... was she in hospital? While she had been unconscious, the cold air had made its way into her sinuses and now her entire head had been overtaken with a dull ache. Shifting uncomfortably on the hard surface, Rae pried her eyes open and gazed around her.

Definitely _not_ a hospital. In fact, Rae realised, it was becoming increasingly likely that she was in a police cell.

Raising her arms above her head Rae stretched, groaning at the sound of her vertebrae cracking. Hauling herself upright on what laughingly passed for a bed, she was dismayed to see that she was wearing the same (Still somewhat damp) clothes in which she had emerged from the river. In the first stirs of consciousness she had prayed that it had only been a dream and she was back in her sensible black trouser-suit. Clearly that prayer had not been answered.

Moving forward to perch on the edge of the bed, Rae felt some alien objects move in her back pocket. She reached back and fished out a slim leather wallet and the tiniest purse she had ever seen. Rae opened the purse and tipped out the contents – seven or eight pound coins and a bank card, several mismatched earrings, and a tiny kohl pencil. No clues there – although she noted with no small amount of confusion that the debit card was in her name.

Turning her attention to the leather wallet, Rae turned it over and over in her hands. The unscheduled detour to the Thames had warped the leather and given it a musty, stagnant smell. It was funny. She hadn't actually carried one in years, but it looked just like the warrant cards they'd used in the force. Rae was trying to force her trembling fingers to open it when she heard a familiar voice making its way closer down the corridor. Stuffing it into her pocket, she slid off the bed and hobbled over to the door. Rae flattened herself against the cool metal in order to hear the conversation better.

"Viv reckons we're running out of cells. Do you think we can let that bird we dragged out the Thames go? We can't put the flasher in with her."

"Why not? Might teach her to get pissed at home next time."

"Ray, he stinks of special brew and dog shit."

"So? Last time I looked, she was still out for the count. Besides, it's not like she smells of roses at the moment. Cracking arse though."

Forgetting her predicament for a split second, Rae craned her head over her shoulder to give her own rear end the briefest of triumphant smiles before jumping three feet in the air as she heard the door being unlocked. Making a split second decision, she slipped behind it as it opened and staying perfectly still, waited.

"Where the bloody hell's she got to?" From behind the door, Rae heard the sounds of two figures making their way into her cell. Choosing her moment carefully, she sprang from her hiding place and darted through the door and out into the corridor.

"Christ on a bike, she's making a run for it!"

Rae ran with no direction or purpose other than the pursuit of freedom, her legs pumping and her ridiculous heels clacking against the linoleum. She could see a glimmer of daylight through some double doors when strong fingers grabbed a handful of her t-shirt, yanking her backwards and sending her sprawling across the floor "I don't think so, love!"

Instinct took hold of her and Rae's right leg struck out, connecting with the back of someone's legs. The heavy thud of a large man hitting the floor sent a small shiver of satisfaction through her, and as her other attacker seized her arm, she'd flipped him over her head and onto his back before she could even think about it. Jumping to her feet and skimming her eyes over the two near-prone bodies before her, she aimed a kick at the nearest, fattest one. Upon hearing the satisfactory clunk and wheeze as her foot hit its target, she smiled sardonically "That's for saying I smell."

"You do smell, love." A large pair of arms grabbed Rae from behind and lifted her off her feet "Like a haddock's knickers after a dodgy curry. Get up you fairies, she's only a tiny little thing."

Rae couldn't see the face of her assailant as she kicked her legs violently, her arms pinned to her sides by his stronger ones. She could smell stale cigarettes and whiskey, and felt hot breath on her neck "Christ boys, looks like we've got a live one!"

He hauled her, still struggling, through the double doors and out into what looked like a reception area. Behind the desk stood a tall, good looking black man who eyed the scene with a wary resignation. Several other people littered around the reception areas in twos and threes looked on in shocked dismay as Rae kicked and fought.

"Stop wriggling, you little minx!" A rough northern accent growled angrily "Viv, will you give us a – Jesus Mary!" Rae had wriggled up far enough to be able to force her head back and strike him on the nose. Hard. All of a sudden her arms were released and she landed flat on her face at his feet. Before she could even attempt to stand, the desk sergeant had her arms pinned behind her back and her head pressed firmly against the floor. She had lost, that much was clear. But it was in Rae's nature to struggle and struggle she did, straining against her captor with every bit of strength she could muster. She could sense a gathering crowd and felt someone kneel down next to her "What's this?"

"I think it fell out of her pocket, Guv." The grip on her arm tightened and Rae screwed her eyes shut, trying to blot out the confusion and relay the facts to herself.

_OK Rae. This is what you know._

_Evan White shot you and tried to sink you to the bottom of the Thames last night._

_You woke up in broad daylight, in completely different clothes, with no bullet wounds whatsoever._

_You swam to shore where two men found you, brought you here and put you in a police cell._

"This is a dream, that's all. Just my brain playing tricks..." Rae murmured into the floor. Maybe if she concentrated hard enough, she could bring herself around. Maybe she had washed up further down the bank. A heavy sigh bought her back to her present predicament.

"You'd better let her up, Viv."

"Guv?"

"She might scrap like a cornered wildcat, but this warrant card says she's copper. Let her up."

Slowly, she was released. Rae lay still for a moment, reacclimatising herself to the freedom to use her limbs. Before she could gather her senses however, she was hauled upwards and placed roughly on her feet by the man who she had head-butted just moments before. He was a good foot taller than her, and craning her neck upwards her eyes were met with a stern expression, a pair of shoulders as wide as a wardrobe and mouth made for snarling.

"Welcome to the team, DC Fisher." He held out the warrant card that had fallen out of her pocket for her to take "I trust you won't make a habit of knocking your fellow officers about?"

Rae could feel the eyes of the men she'd just floored burning into her back. She stared open-mouthed at the man in front of her, eyeing his outstretched arm "That's not-"

A voice, achingly and bone-chillingly familiar, broke the tension and caused Rae's heart to skip a beat.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here? Can't I leave you alone for five minutes at a time?"

X x X x X


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**X x X x X**

Rae whipped her head in the direction of the voice, hardly daring to believe it.

She stood with a tall bespectacled man in the doorway leading off to what had to be the rest of the station, hands on her hips and a look that Rae had come to know as 'You've got a _lot_ of explaining to do' written all over her face. Her hair was cut into a sleek bob and she was wearing more make-up than Rae had seen her wear in a long time, but there was no mistaking it. Rae opened and shut her mouth wordlessly before choking out "It's- it's _you_!"

Detective Inspector Alex Drake stared at her for a moment, her eyes wide with shock, the colour draining out of her face. She took a step backwards and clutched the door frame for support. The man she had arrived with placed a hand on her shoulder "Alex? You look as though you've seen a ghost."

Rae felt as though her legs may give out once more – Alex was awake, she was _awake_. Rae felt a wave of joy flood through her "Alex..."

"How did you get here?" Alex whispered, wrapping her arms around herself and stepping backward "My brain's giving up. It can't make the distinction between that world and this one." She murmured, her eyes downcast. Rae took a shaky step toward her friend, acutely aware that this entire scene was playing out to an audience.

"Alex, what are you talking about? When did you wake up?" _More to the point, how long was I unconscious for?_ "Has Molly been to see you?"

"Molly?" Alex's head shot up "Is she here?"

"No, she's not with me. She's living with Evan." _Evan. When I get my hands on him..._

"Why did I imagine you and not her then?"

"Imagine me? Alex, I'm here. I'm real." Rae cast a quick glance around at the bizarre setting "...I think."

"You think? What happened? Why are you here?" Alex leapt forward and grabbed Rae by the shoulders, shaking her slightly "Is Molly alright? How long have I been here for? Am I alive? Did anyone find me? Where's Layton? Did they catch him?"

"Christ Bolls, let the woman settle in." The man Rae had head-butted interjected, stuffing the warrant card that had fallen out of her pocket into her hands "So I take it you're familiar with our newest DC?"

"DC?" Alex frowned, perplexed. She gripped Rae's shoulders even harder "You haven't been in the force for three years."

"Five years." Rae corrected gently, opening the warrant card. Inside, her name and rank was printed, alongside the royal seal and photograph of herself she had never seen before. Wordlessly, she handed it to Alex, who regarded it with similar bewilderment "Has it been two years?" She whispered in a tiny voice that nearly broke Rae's heart.

"Shall we adjourn to a less public part of the station, ladies?" the man interrupted again, the sarcasm heavy in his voice "Or maybe you would prefer to move your desk out here, Drake? Form some sort of meet and greet service for the scum?"

"Shut up, Gene." Alex mumbled distractedly, still staring at the warrant card.

"Uh... Guv?"

"What is it, Christopher?"

"I just want it to be known Guv, for the record like, that DI Carling and myself had no idea she was a copper. She kept going on about being shot – we thought she was pissed."

"I _was _shot you idiot, and I am _not-_ Argh!" Rae yelped as Alex reached out and pinched her arm discreetly. The man now known as Gene stared at her for a moment, an unimpressed eyebrow raised "Wonderful. Someone almost as unhinged as Lady Bolls. We can places bets on who gets carted off first. Meanwhile, if you two hens are quite finished clucking, perhaps we can get on with some actual police work." And without waiting for a response, he strode off in the direction from which Alex had appeared, the two officers who had found Rae on the river bank shuffling behind him. The desk sergeant returned to his post after shooting a vaguely apologetic glance in Rae's direction. Only the tall skinny man with glasses that had arrived with Alex remained, silently observing everything. Now he stepped forward, smiling nervously and holding out a hand for Rae to shake "Hello DC Fisher, I'm DCI Jim Keats. I'm glad you finally took the opportunity to be a part of our little world."

"Opportunity...?" Rae mumbled numbly, taking his hand and shaking it limply. Keats smiled encouragingly "Yes, we've been quite keen to get you on side for a while now. I hope you didn't get the wrong impression from Gene in there - we're actually quite a friendly bunch."

"... Huh." Was all Rae could manage, her stomach and brain churning with equal vigour. Keats looked from Rae to Alex and smiled bashfully "Well I'll leave you two to catch up. Alex, I'll see you later on." He walked away backwards, stumbling over his own feet. Rae watched him go, trying to decide whether to attribute the fading of her nausea to him leaving or her beginning to acclimatise to this bizarre place. Putting this aside for a moment, she turned and looked into eyes that she hadn't see life in for two long years.

"Alex, what the bloody _hell_ is going on?"

Alex didn't say anything at first. She simply stared at Rae, chewing her lip anxiously. Rae noticed that her friend was also wearing clothes they both swore would haunt their dreams forever, but this didn't seem to bother her. Finally, Alex murmured "Not here. Let's take a walk." And gripping Rae's elbow, she steered her out of the station and into the bright sunlight.

Squinting as her eyes adjusted, Rae stared unabashedly at the world around her, her jaw dropping as she ceased to find anything familiar in the city she had lived in all her life. Was that a DeLorean driving past? Was there a _Fame_ party nearby? So many leg-warmers...

Alex punched her on the arm, bringing her back to earth "Pay attention."

"Sorry."

"Now. There is absolutely no way that you have simply fallen out of the sky-"

"I didn't, Alex. I was shot."

"You're only saying you were shot because I was shot."

"What?" Rae crossed her arms and glared at her friend "This isn't a competition, Alex."

"I _mean_, you're only saying you were shot because that's all my brain can come up with. I was shot, ergo you, a piece of home, were also shot."

"Alex, for the last time, you didn't make me up! Besides, how do you know I'm not imagining _you_?"

"Don't be absurd. I was here ages before you turned up."

"Hang on a minute..." Rae felt a small piece of the puzzle click into place "Is this where you came when Layton shot you?"

Alex nodded. A tiny, weary nod that made Rae want to reach out and hug her. She sat herself down on the front steps of the station. Rae tentatively sat down next to her and for a moment they were silent.

Alex spoke first "I didn't wake up a few months ago did I?"

"No. I went to see you yesterday."

"I still don't believe you're real, you know. Tell me something that's happened while I've been unconscious."

"Prince William is engaged to Kate Middleton."

"That was inevitable."

"Labour lost the general election last summer."

"Also inevitable." Alex buried her face in her hands.

"To a Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition."

"Now I know you're lying."

"I swear it."

Alex's voice was muffled through her fingers "Still don't believe you."

Rae paused for a moment to think "I got a tattoo."

Alex took her hands from her face "Shut up. When?"

"I was out in the States last April for work. Got ratted in a bar one night and ended up in some sleazy twenty-four hour place."

Alex straightened up "Show me."

Rae reddened slightly "I can't. Not out here."

X x X x X

"Shaz, have you seen Drake anywhere? She wanted this file."

Shaz looked up from her desk. She smiled helpfully at Viv "I think I saw her going into the ladies with some woman about ten minutes ago."

From across the room, Chris Skelton looked up from the ice pack he was applying to his injured shoulder "Was she quite short with bleached hair and braces?"

Shaz frowned "Yeah, why?"

"She's the new DC," Viv explained "But Chris and Ray found her on the North bank of the Thames saying she'd been shot and dumped in the river. They thought she was pissed so they stuck her in a cell."

"Hang on a minute..." Shaz could barely conceal her glee "Is this the woman who got past you and then floored you both when you tried to catch her?"

Viv began to laugh "They went down like sacks of shit."

"She took me by surprise!" Chris protested, a blush creeping up his neck. Ray limped back in from the kitchen, a couple of aspirin in his hand. He sat down heavily at his desk and looked around "What?"

"Drake's in the toilet with that new bird." Chris said quickly, eager to change the subject.

"You know the one, Ray. She beat you up less than half an hour ago."

"Shut it Skip, alright?" Ray growled "I don't reckon she's actually a bird you know. No bird could do that. Ten quid says there's more going on south of the border than just a pair of ovaries."

"That's disgusting, Ray." Shaz curled her lip at him.

"Only one way to find out, though..." Chris left the sentence hanging in the air between himself and the others. For a moment they all sat looking at each other before standing and moving toward the door. Viv turned to see Shaz still at her desk "You not coming?"

"Why should I care if she's Victor or Victoria?"

"I hated that film." Ray shuddered "Julie Andrews should either be a nun or a tranny, but not both. Come on Shaz, you're the only one who can go in the ladies without getting a disciplinary."

X x X x X

"You know, the last time we shared a toilet cubicle I was considerably more drunk."

"Will you just hurry up and pull your jeans down? I don't have all day."

"Fine..."

Shaz could hear the sounds of jeans unzipping and someone wriggling out of them. She crept as close to the cubicle as she dared and stilled her breathing.

"There. Are you happy now?"

"It's ... beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so."

"Shaz!" Ray had poked his head around the door. He caught her eye and mouthed "What's going on?"

From inside the cubicle, movement stopped "Did you hear something?"

Shaz's eyes widened and she gestured wildly for Ray to get out. As the occupants of the cubicle began to emerge Shaz busied herself at the sink, pretending to wash her hands. First came DI Drake, looking shifty and embarrassed. Behind her came a woman of a similar age but much shorter, with a thin, waif-ish figure. She had the blonde hair that Chris had described, bleached and permed to look like Madonna's, and pretty features – full, pouty lips, high cheekbones and bright green eyes thickly lined with kohl. DI Drake smiled at Shaz "You OK, Shaz?"

"Yes Ma'am, I'm fine." Shaz couldn't help staring dazedly at the woman that DI Drake had been sharing a cubicle with. Alex shifted uncomfortably "Shaz, this is DC Rae Fisher. She and I have been friends for a long time."

"Oh." Shaz looked nonplussed and for the first since she had arrived there, Rae smiled in spite of herself "In case you were wondering what we were doing, I was showing DI Drake a tattoo that I recently had done."

"_Oh._" Shaz could barely keep the relief from her face. The three women stood staring at each other in complete silence for a moment, smiling awkwardly. The tension was broken by Ray whispering through the door "Shaz?"

Shaz closed her eyes as if this would somehow lessen the humiliation "What, Ray?"

"What's going on in there? Have you managed to get a look or what?"

Alex's eyes widened and she strode over to the door, flung it open and watched as Ray and Chris fell in a heap at her feet. Apparently Viv had had the good sense to make himself scarce and was probably now back behind his desk feigning innocence. Ray and Chris scrabbled against each other comically as they tried to haul themselves up. Alex glared down at them "That's the second time today you've both been wiped out by a woman."

"So she is a woman, then." Ray muttered angrily as he picked himself up.

"DI Carling, you will apologise for that remark."

"I outrank her!" Ray spluttered.

"Doesn't mean you have to be a pig, Ray." Shaz moved to flounce past him when a loud northern voice reverberated down the corridor "Chris! Ray! What the bloody hell are you doing in the ladies? Don't tell me you both sit down now." Gene, the man whose nose had connected rather splendidly with the back of Rae's head earlier, appear in the doorway "Or have we moved the incident room to an oestrogen rich environment so the women can be more comfortable?"

"No Guv. We were just-"

"Don't bother explaining. I like my theory better. It is now precisely beer o' clock. Or rather, it was beer o' clock twenty minutes ago but for some reason my team decided to relocate to an area that's within easy walking distance of a tampon machine. Let's get going." And with that, he was gone. Ray, Chris and Shaz filed out of the bathroom, leaving Rae to look to Alex questioningly, her jaw hanging open. Alex simply held the door open and smiled comfortingly at her "Come on. I'll explain everything."

X x X x X


	8. Chapter 8

Title: Stranger Things  
>Summary: Keywords: Rae Fisher, 1981, Alex Drake, Gene Hunt, Evan White, Conspiracy.<br>Rating: Not sure yet. There's definitely some swearing.

**Chapter Eight**

**X x X x X**

"So... we're in October 1983?" Rae trailed behind Alex in a daze, her heels clacking as they walked along the busy streets of a city she no longer recognised but somehow _knew_ was London. The winding roads and alleyways had a feel to them like nowhere else in the world, as though the sheer volume of people who walked them each day left some small part of themselves behind. It was as though they _breathed_. London had always felt like a giant organism with a consciousness and a pulse fed by its many millions of inhabitants. In Rae's experience, you either loved it or hated it and she couldn't deny that those who hated it were not entirely unjustified. To the untrained eye it was an ant farm, running alive with thousands upon thousands of people, each on their own separate journeys. The stress of negotiating the streets alone was exhausting if you didn't understand them.

Rae, on the other hand, had never felt safer than when she was walking the beat she now knew by heart. The face of London changed every single day, but the melodious hum emanating from its core had been the same since the very beginning. The city had played host to murders the likes of which the western world had never seen, disease that nearly wiped out a fifth of the population, architectural masterpieces and musical genius. The beauty of the place lay in its ability to be a blank slate for all. London welcomed weary pilgrims with open arms and no questions asked. Of course, this wasn't always a good thing and Rae had seen plenty of shady corners that concealed even shadier characters. But it didn't seem to matter how many seedy villains attempted to take the reins because the city had proved time and time again that she would not – indeed, _could _not- be tamed.

"Yep." Alex nodded grimly, watching her friend drinking in the sights around her. This must have been how she looked when she arrived here. Rae had the look of a trauma victim – stunned, exhausted and slightly nauseas.

"Right..." Rae bit her lip and watched as a car drove past blasting the Eurhythmics from its speakers "So I'm too late to save John Lennon..."

"Correct."

"... And too early to discover Take That."

"Bingo."

"Damn it."

"Yes Rae, the fact that you are unable to stop a famous assassination or discover a boyband is indeed your biggest problem right now."

"Sorry. I'll be serious. What are we doing here?"

Alex sighed and leant heavily against a wall "I have less than no idea."

They were silent for a moment, each contemplating their own private predicament. Alex raised her eyes to the sky "At least I'm not dead. I suppose that's something."

"My status on the other hand, is somewhat more questionable." Rae joined her friend in propping up the wall, the misshapen stone feeling peculiar against the exposed skin of her lower back.

Alex turned to her friend "Did you know who it was that shot you?"

Rae thought about the look in Evan's eyes as he pulled the trigger, that mournful, guilt-ridden look _'You were never supposed to be involved in her life, Rae.'_

She couldn't tell Alex that the man currently taking care of her only child was involved in this - it looked as though she had enough to worry about. Rae answered quickly "No, I didn't see their face."

More silence between them. Finally, Alex reached out and nudged her friend "Come on. Let's get pissed." Once more they began to walk.

"They caught Layton, you know. I went to the trial. They sent him to Broadmoor indefinitely."

"Good." Alex linked an arm through Rae's. Instantly, Rae knew the question that Alex was itching to ask "She comes to see you all the time."

Alex's grip tightened "Does she?"

"Of course she does. And Alex, she is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"Hmm." Rae did her friend the courtesy of pretending she couldn't hear the tears in her voice. Instead, she carried on talking "She runs rings around Evan, although I suspect that was always the case. The nurses at the hospital dote on her too."

"Does she see Pete much?"

"It's difficult to say. He still sends presents and I gather he emails quite a bit. Last Molly told me, he and Judy were living on a ranch in Texas and learning to cattle rustle." Rae felt Alex stiffen. The two exchanged matching looks "Tit."

Despite her bewildered state, Rae felt hugely comforted by the familiarity of their exchange. Ever since Alex's accident, Rae had been deeply conscious of the void it had left in her life – in all their lives. Lately though, as work had gotten more intense and the prospect of Molly growing up without her mother became more likely, Rae had noticed the pressure on her heart increasing with no trusted companion to share it with.

Alex halted them in front of a tiny restaurant "You know, even though it isn't real this place does the best linguine you've ever had."

"Even better than that place we went to in Rome?"

"Even better. Come on, you can fill me in on everything that's happened since the last time I saw you."

"Robbie's rejoined Take That."

"Is Take That all you can think about right now?"

"I'm serious. They sang a corny reunion song on Strictly Come Dancing. It was actually a bit disgusting..."

X x X x X

Stepping inside the tiny Italian bistro, Rae's senses were immediately set upon with smells, sights and sounds that she had long forgotten. Her father had not discovered his talent for cooking until he had retired, and so much of her childhood weekends and holidays had been spent in restaurants just like this one. Instantly, she began to relax. For Rae, eating out was familiar and comforting – she knew how to act in a restaurant. Outside, the world outside was seemingly on its head but in here, she knew the script.

"Signorina Drake! It is wonderful to see you!" A short and balding Italian man hurried to greet Alex with an affectionate kiss on the cheek "And who is your beautiful friend?"

"Hello Luigi," Alex smiled warmly "It's good to see you too. This is a very good friend of mine – Detective Rae Fisher. She'll be joining us at CID."

"Ray?" Luigi's brows knitted together in confusion "The same as...?" he gestured over to where Ray was sitting. He glanced up at them and sneered nastily at them before returning to his conversation with the Desk Sergeant who had pinned Rae to the floor earlier.

Rae smiled brightly at the little Italian "It sounds the same but mine's spelt prettier." She shook his hand "This is a lovely place. Reminds me of restaurants I used to go to as a child."

Luigi beamed "Thank you for the compliment, Signorina Fisher. It always pleases me to hear that." Spying more patrons to welcome, he excused himself. Alex led Rae over to the corner where CID were sat, laughing raucously and knocking back the drink at a speed Rae remembered well from her days on the force.

"... I'm just sayin' it was mine first!" Ray was protesting indignantly as they sat down at the table. Gene nodded gruffly to Alex before turning to place a bottle of Asti Spumante in front of Rae who stared at it blankly, her confusion growing when she saw an identical bottle in front of Ray.

"Guv, it's not fair!" Ray glared at his bottle, then at Gene. If DCI Hunt noticed, he was clearly not for negotiation.

Alex frowned as she poured herself a glass of wine "What's not fair?"

Gene gestured to Rae "The arrival of Mrs Bruce Lee over there has created a problem."

Alex raised a sardonic eyebrow "You can't be bothered with the hassle of two officers with the same name, can you?"

"Bingo, Bollykeks. This problem," He drew himself up importantly "Will only be solved through the medium of a time honoured tradition practised by true coppers the world over. First one to finish three of those gets to keep their name. Loser gets a new name allocated by the Gene Genie himself."

"What's the new name Guv?" the petite dark haired girl – Shaz, was it? – asked Gene. He shrugged and lit up "I dunno Granger, I'll think of something. You can't rush genius."

X x X x X

It hadn't occurred to Rae how hungry she was until the vast plate of spaghetti was placed in front of her. She didn't remember ordering it - Alex must have done it for her while Rae sat and dazedly tried to assimilate the new world that she had inelegantly and without warning been thrust into. Rae offered a grateful smile across the table to her friend before devouring the entire plate. Alex was right; the stuff was heavenly. Afterwards, she had sat nursing the glass of Spumante, alternating between staring listlessly at the three bottles she was required to put away in order to keep her name and gazing wide eyed at the goings-on around her, still half expecting that at any minute she would jerk awake in her own bed feeling thoroughly confused.

"Come on, you're way behind." Shaz plonked herself down beside Rae and refilled her glass for her. Rae offered a weak smile "I haven't drunk competitively since university – I think I may have lost my edge. On the other hand," She cast a glance over at Ray, who appeared to be performing some sort of lewd mime for a couple of the other CID officers "I couldn't live with myself if I lost to him." She picked up her glass and clinked it gently against Shaz's "Cheers."

"That's the spirit." Shaz grinned as Rae polished off the entire glass in one go "So where were you working before?"

"I can't talk about it." It never failed to surprise Rae how easily the words tripped from her tongue. She had known some agents in her time who, when questioned about their line of business, would draw themselves up importantly and say something loud and pompous about the Official Secrets Act and National Security bah blah blah... Rae on the other hand, found it much easier to keep her answer short and at a low volume so as to warn the enquiring party that they had unwittingly stepped into dangerous territory and that to pry any further would be unwise.

Clearly, the universal subtext attached to the softening of the timbre of one's voice had failed to reach Shaz, who stared at her disbelievingly for a moment before lowering her voice "Are you saying you used to work for Her Majesty's Secret Service?"

Rae, despite still feeling entirely bewildered by her new surroundings as well as quickly falling under the effects of the copious quantity of alcohol she was required to drink, turned to stare at Shaz, her well practised poker face in place "What Secret Service?" Rae stared hard into the young girl's eyes, hoping that the obvious meaning attached to a rhetorical question and an unblinking gaze would not be lost on her.

She did not hope in vain. Shaz's eyes fell to her drink and she didn't ask again. Rae topped her own glass up again and settled back in the chair "What drew you to the force then?"

Shaz smiled "My older sisters got married and had children and stayed at home and I never wanted that. I think my dad liked the idea too – he always wanted to be a police officer."

"What stopped him?"

"He was injured in Northern Ireland and couldn't pass the fitness exam." Shaz stared at her feet sadly and Rae suddenly couldn't help but feel that for want of her independence or not, the police had never really been the young woman's first choice. She sighed inwardly. If ever there was a recipe for a nervous breakdown, it was a child living out a parent's dream in an environment filled with the very worst things the human race had to offer.

Across the bar rowdy chanting broke out, led chiefly by Ray. He had clambered unsteadily onto a chair and while his arms were busy conducting the drunken orchestra of miscreants before him, his eyes were fixed glaringly on Rae. Although she couldn't make out the words, Rae suspected that this particular mantra was designed to unnerve her. Smiling sweetly, she raised her glass as if to toast Ray's conducting skills. He curled his lip at her menacingly before turning away.

Satisified that her reaction had produced the opposite effect to that which Ray had desired, Rae drained her glass "Right. I'm off outside for a cigarette. Who's the best person to blag one from?"

Shaz frowned "Well anyone really, but... why would you go outside?"

X x X x X

"How are you?" Alex touched Rae lightly on the shoulder to draw her from her reverie. Rae was beginning to look boss-eyed – whether from booze or exhaustion (or both), Alex couldn't tell.

"I am..." Rae searched for the word "... Adrift." She took a deep drag on the cigarette that she had acquired from somewhere "On the other hand, not having to go outside for a fag is bloody marvellous."

"Trust you to find the silver lining."

Rae shook her head vehemently "No, darling girl – the silver lining is that despite the fact that reality can no longer be relied upon, I am once again in your company." She gave a wobbly smile "I've missed you terribly."

Alex squeezed her hand "I've missed you too."

"I can't believe you've been here," Rae gestured around them "For two _years_. How on earth did you cope?"

"I just thought of Molly. And you, and of course Evan..."

_Of course. Evan._

"... I know that I'll figure out a way to get back home eventually." Alex stared imploringly at Rae "I will get back won't I?"

"Of course," Rae stubbed out her cigarette determinedly "Of course you will."

"Right Bollykeks," Gene appeared before them, leaning heaving on the back of a chair, a cigar clenched between his teeth "Unless you and the new girl are going to take your romantic interlude to a level involving copious amounts of baby oil, I just want to point out that Raymondo has drunk the amount of booze required to keep his name." As if to illustrate this point, from across the bar Ray belched loudly to appreciative clapping and cheering. Gene allowed the applause to die down before turning back to Alex and Rae "Therefore, it is my duty as your DCI to award you the title of..." He sucked air imperiously through his nostrils, an action which might have indicated authority had he not been swaying where he stood"... New Girl." Upon hearing the disappointed groans at this announcement, Gene growled and yelled above the noise "Alright shut it, you lot!" He stared at Rae through nearly-closing eyes.

"What shall we call you then, love?"

X x X x X

Thanks to Fenella Chrch for re-reviewing!


End file.
